Feeling much better now, so let’s get back to regular business. I’m not really sure how I got better, all I know is I zonked out on Friday and Saturday may or may not have occurred and then I woke up on Sunday feeling better. Chalk it up to the grace and mercy of God. Actually if I’d known I would be better so quickly I wouldn’t have alarmed my kind readers with that dramatic post last time. Sorry guys ^_^;

Right, carrying on where we left off, I did indeed buy a TV early last week. 43 inches is huge! It didn’t look that big in the store, but once I set it up, it was like whoaaa. I had to scoot way back just to take it all in. Going from 21″ to 43″ takes some getting used to, but I kind of like it. It’s very… modern. Like I’m also part of the hoi polloi, you know?

Anyway, once the TV was set up, I also set up the PSTV and the PS4 controller. Took like 5 seconds, nothing exciting at all. I don’t know what I was expecting. After that I thought I’d hook up the PS2 just to check if it could still work with this newfangled technology. Okay, it seemed to be working. I’d better try a game just to be certain.

I hadn’t gotten even 5 minutes into La Corda d’Oro 2 when I realized, “Ahh, this is it!” This is how I wanted to feel when I picked up a controller. I just want to play something good, I don’t want to think so hard. No fancy controls, no convoluted stories, no new systems to adjust to, just pick it up and play. The PS2 is a masterpiece console, it really is.

And instead of jumping straight from a long break to a new system + new TV, it’s better for my delicate constitution if I ease myself back in with something I’m already certain I’d like. That’s why I spent Tuesday-Thursday blitzing my way merrily through this game. Thanks to that I’m now eager to sink my teeth into the Vita’s library. Once I can stay sitting for longer than 20 minutes at a time, that is.

So how was La Corda 2 itself? Excellent. Koei’s Neoromance line makes the finest otome games out there. Whenever I doubt my love for the genre (and there’s plenty of room for doubt) I just have to play one of their titles and my love is restored. The graphics are always lovely, the guys are usually nice guys and in the case of the Corda series, the music is exactly my kind of thing.

I was a little worried going in that this game would be boring, seeing as it has 99% the same cast as the first game and is set very shortly after the contest ended, but it turns out I had little to worry about. The music is all new, the gameplay has been significantly overhauled and there’s still plenty to discover about my favorite characters so I’m a happy camper. I’ve already decided which order to conquer them in: Tsuchiura > Hihara > Yunoki > Tsukimori. The Kaji and Ousaki-sempai endings I got this time round were just byproducts of my initial runthrough. I didn’t really want them.

Key gameplay changes:

• It’s not a competition any more, instead you’re playing in ensembles of 3-5 persons. You play in concerts and get rated based on complexity of pieces, number of attendees, etc.
• This means you will have to master your own piece quickly, make sure the other people have practiced their parts as well and then perfect your ensemble act all before the date of the concert. It can be pretty tight, but there’s an Easy mode this time.
• Although it’s not a competition, you still have objectives to meet like a certain number of people to bring to your concerts and a certain kind of piece to play.
• The game has more clues about what events you need to see and how to access them to get a guy’s true ending. But of course you will still need a guidebook or FAQ to get everything.
• Certain areas of the map give you boosts to certain activities, .e.g practicing in the auditorium makes your ensemble get better quicker.
• Riri the fairy sells all the scores and items you need, no need to run over the map hunting them down. Also the rest of the cast knows about the fairies and about your doping and completely approve.
• Stuff is expensive and BP is tight! By the time you’re good enough to rake in lots of BP, it’s time for the concert. Then quickly you have to start practising the next set of pieces for the next concert. In subsequent playthroughs I will only buy the barest minimums of scores and dresses and take better advantage of the stat-boosting areas.

In short, it’s the same time/resource management gameplay but in a happier, friendlier package because you’re all allies now instead of rivals.

Instead the true enemy is the new Board Chairman – not datable despite his devilish good looks, instead you’ll have to buy the fandisk – who wants to separate the normal and the music high schools for greater profits. If you follow the story you’ll realize he has a good point, but what’s a good point in the face of a few classical concerts? We just play music at him until he sees the error of his ways and presto, problem solved! I love video games.

So much for the story and the gameplay, now for the guys I got without really trying.

Kaji Aoi

He heard MC playing the violin in the park a while ago and liked it so much he left his old school and transferred into hers.

Okay, it’s a free country, he can go anywhere he wants. And he’s a lot less creepy than a guy with that kind of motive would normally be. It turns out he used to play the violin but dropped it and picked up the viola after some kind of incident. It’s probably explained in Kaji’s true ending, or in the Kiniro no Corda 2 Encore fandisk, but I didn’t care enough to probe.

Dating/hanging out with Kaji is very normal, for better or worse. He’s a nice guy who may or may not be hiding something not-so-nice underneath, I dunno. I never saw any of that though, all his events are bland. He takes a hit for MC and falls into some water, or MC falls over and he picks her up and so on and so forth. Generic nice guy stuff. Eventually he confesses on Christmas Eve that he’s been in love with her since he saw her play in the park (we knew that) and that he transferred to be closer to her (we knew that) and that he wants to date her (we knew that) and she says yes, the end. Boring.

Ousaki Shinobu

Speaking of boring, look who’s here!

My old buddy Ousaki-sempai who I thoroughly ignored in the last game. Actually I really like Ousaki, just not as dating material. This time he manages to be more interesting, maybe because he spends most of the game halfway around the world in Vienna. Most of your interactions are via email and phone call. If you’re nice enough to him, he’ll win an international music competition, which is seriously awesome.

Same deal as Kaji, he confesses on Christmas Eve and says how much you mean to him. “Ousaki-sempai, you’re world-famous now! You’re gonna be rich. We’re gonna be rich!” *glomp*

My girl knows where it’s at! But he’s such a nice guy, I was genuinely thrilled to hear he won in Vienna. He’s not just Generic Supportive Sempai, he’s a super-talented musician in his own right. +5 to Respect (and Future Prospects). He’s still a distant fifth behind the rest of the other guys as far as romance goes, but I was happier for him than I thought was possible with a fictional character. Ganbare!

Right, I think I’ve hit my typing limit. I’m still a little woozy. This isn’t the end for me and La Corda d’Oro 2, though. I plan to sandwich the rest of the routes between other games. E.g. OreShika -> Tsuchiura route -> Sorcery Saga -> Hihara route, etc. Real life has a way of coming between me and these plans of mine, but if all goes well that’s the schedule for the rest of the month and into the new year. Let’s see how things go.